I’ve spent the last few weeks with Posterous, a relatively new blogging platform from Sachin Agarwal and Garry Tan. The result is both a modest record of my travels and a powerful enthusiasm for the service.
Posterous is going to be huge.
I’ve used every blogging platform I’ve found, including (but not limited to) WordPress, Typepad, MoveableType, Squarespace, Vox, Livejournal, Blogger and Textpattern. The easiest among those are the hosted solutions, like Typepad, Livejournal, Blogger, Squarespace and Vox (Note: Typepad, Livejournal and Vox are all products of Six Apart). WordPress and MoveableType are (usually) self-hosted and require the blogger* to create and link to a database.
After installation is complete, they all require additional fiddling. Customizing the layout, design, colors, graphics etc. takes time. Adding something like an image gallery is even more time consuming, and typically requires a plug-in which you must find, upload, configure and test on your own.
By contrast, here’s how you create a complete blog with Posterous: Send an email message to post@posterous.com. That’s it.
Here’s how you create a full-featured, thumbnailed photo gallery with built-in navigation on Posterous: Email your photos to post@posterous.com.
Want to post a video? Same thing. It’ll even encode it for you. Send nearly any codec you want.
It’s brilliant because there’s nothing to learn. Everyone knows how to send an email message. Additionally, there’s nothing to download, install or configure. You can use the email client you already know; the email client you probably have with you all day via your laptop, phone or iPod. Additionally, you can have Posterous notify your other accounts, like Facebook and Twitter, each time an update is posted.
I oversee many bloggers at my day job and some are more technically savvy than others. We use WordPress, which I love, but does pose a challenge for some of the writers. However, they’re all proficient with email. If I could simply tell them, “Just email your posts and pictures to this address and you’re done,” they’d fall down with gratitude and relief.
The sticking point right now is the lack of customization. If I’m going to embrace Posterous for work, I’ve got to be able to customize the CSS and other layout features. But that’s an extreme case.
For the vast majority of people, Posterous is a very desirable option. Sachin and Garry took an incredible idea — get out of the way and let the blogger write via a familiar and nearly ubiquitous tool — and executed it wonderfully. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
*Some web hosting companies provide a one-click install for WordPress and MoveableType.
I completely agree with you Dave. Well I haven’t used many options, but I do have yet another blog on Blogger (http://surrealnirvana.blogspot.com/). But ever since I’ve come across Posterous, I some times regret having started blogging on Blogger before Posterous
.
But I have to add, if you know HTML, have the time to tweak with your widgets on Blogger, it can work wonders which (as of yet) Posterous cannot. Having said that, I believe Posterous has an extremely long way to go and I get excited every time they come up with a new feature.
Manish
I completely agree. It’s bone-dead simple and that’s exciting. For 90% of bloggers, it’s perfect as is. The geeks like you and me (if you will) want the customization features. For me, that’s the only thing that’s missing.
Still, most users will find it perfect. Thanks for commenting.
I’m an old fashioned gal and I am happy with my Typepad blogging home. Of course I’ve been there for years and years and years. But I am glad that other people who might normally not blog are getting an easy way in. I love blogging.